Bindle

Two hobos walking along railroad tracks after being put off a train. One is carrying a bindle.

Bindle is a term used to describe the bag, sack, or carrying device stereotypically used by the commonly American sub-culture of hobos. The person carrying a bindle was called a bindlestiff, combining bindle with the Average Joe sense of stiff.^{[citation needed]}

In modern popular culture the bindle is portrayed as a stick with cloth or a blanket tied around one end for carrying items, with the entire array being carried over the shoulder. Particularly in cartoons, the bindles' sacks usually have a polka-dotted or bandanna design. However, in actual use the bindle can take many forms.

An example of the stick-type bindle can be seen in the illustration entitled The Runaway created by Norman Rockwell which appears on the cover of the September 20, 1958 edition of The Saturday Evening Post.

Though bindles are rarely used anymore, they are still widely seen in popular culture as a prevalent anachronism.

Other uses

Bindle is also a term used in forensics. It is the name for a piece of paper folded to hold trace evidence – not to be confused with a pharmaceutical fold. On a similar note, bindle is sometimes used to describe a small package of cocaine